Every once in a while I joke that I am heading off to my great escape - meaning the health club. Almost every morning I get up and head there for my workout. Today I wondered as I was walking in, why do I call it my escape? Am I really running from all my problems? How can a health club solve my issues?
Since July of 2010, I have made an effort to put in a good workout each day at the health club. There are times when I am not able to go - vacations, other exercise commitments, club closing, etc. Even on my bike days I stop in and swipe my card and use the health club as my starting point. During these past two years, I have set several challenges for myself - and accomplished them. Many of those were just relatively simple workout challenges but things that I had never done before and really couldn't have imagined myself ever doing. The health club has allowed me to try different machines, develop different workouts, meet some new people and reconnect with some old friends. So in that regard it isn't really an escape - I am not running away from problems, I am finding challenges, encouragement and accomplishments. But I still call it my escape.
Perhaps I refer to the club as my "sanctuary". I find there are times where sitting quietly in a church sanctuary in prayer and reflection are appropriate for whatever I may be dealing with. But that isn't always an option. God has given me another sanctuary to use. There are many mornings where I feel like I haven't slept well, I am exhausted and would love to crawl back into bed. But life doesn't necessarily allow for that. There are kids to get to school, housework to be done, greeting cards to be merchandised, lunchrooms to be supervised, church meals to be prepared, etc. So I get up and I head to the club. How I manage to get there some mornings surprises even me. But there is part of me that knows once I get there I will feel that energy to get going with my workout and I know that by the end I will feel that endorphin rush - my reward for pushing my body with a great physical challenge.
I also know that once I have my headphones in, no one will bother me. There is a certain unspoken rule at the club (as I understand it) that headphones mean please leave me alone while I am working out. And it seems to work. I have yet to have someone get on the machine next to me and start yakking away. It does seem odd that in the midst of a hundred people working out, I can feel completely alone at the club - and sometimes that is a wonderful thing.
For me the club offers the "escape" from being needed. There are no children demanding my supervision. There are no baskets of laundry demanding to be folded and put away. There is no timer set for supper. There are no PTO obligations. There is no work time clock. There is no one asking for my input or my opinion. I am nobody at the club - just the gal in the Annie t-shirt who shows up every morning and kicks her own butt. I can be invisible. And that is something that I need.
I know that God uses me in so many ways and honestly I LOVE that. I want Him to use me and to let me serve Him as much as I can. I really do enjoy cooking and baking and giving that to others. Or preparing the church dinner each week. Or making popcorn for 100 people at movie night at school. This is part of who I am. But I also need balance in my life. I need my down time -which used to consist of snacking on the couch and vegging in front of the television for hours on end. My daily workouts provide me with a dedicated time to talk to God,a chance to improve my physical fitness and give my mental and emotional side an opportunity to refocus and let some stuff go. I am so blessed to have my down time serve not only as a mental benefit - but physical and spiritual as well.
Once again this morning I headed off to my great escape with a head full of worrisome problems and a heavy heart -trying to make the right decisions regarding my life. Headphones in, music on, isolated on a treadmill in a sea of others and prayers went up. During my workout things start to work their way out, clarity sets in and I feel that sense of peace that God so graciously grants me. I have given my stresses to God and He has given me some time to just be - alone, calm and at peace.
My great escape is not me running away from my problems as I once thought - but rather me running to the sanctuary that God has given me to help me with my problems. So what is your Great Escape?
No comments:
Post a Comment